Not so different
by Myojo-s-me
Summary: One-shot. YoruichixByakuya, NelielxNnoitra, Stark, Rukia included. Yoruichi came down to HM to ...save a certain guy. Neliel is going to do the same.


She ran down the long, winding hallways of Las Noches, dragging a exhausted, confused and growingly exasperated Rukia behind her. It wasn't that the girl wasn't thankful or hadn't wanted to be liberated; it was rather the fact that Yoruichi hadn't told her why of all people it had been the queen of flash who had done so. That the woman hadn't explained what went on outside. Where they were heading for.

To put it short: Rukia knew zero.

And she didn't like it.

She didn't like the fact that she was too weak to keep the older womans pace, either. That she was too weak from those weeks of captivity in this dark yet all white place. She stumbled and, not able to hold herself, fell.

For a split second, it seemed as if Yoruichi wouldn't notice that the raven haired girl was no longer behind her. But then she turned and flash stepped back.

"What is it?" Kneeling besides the coughing Rukia who was just desperately struggling for air, she gave the girl a closer look for the first time since she hat burst into the room where the Kuchiki had been held prisoner. She wasn't pleased with what she saw.

Blood soaked the white arrancar style clothing at the girls chest. A yet not healed battle wound, obviously, reopened by the strain of the escape. Skin too pale, large dark circles around her eyes, Rukia seemed to be more dead than alive, although her efforts to cover up for this with mere will were just as evident as futile.

No way to go anywhere with her. At least not running.

Yoruichi didn't think about it for a long time. There was just no time to. Instead, she grabbed the girl and threw her over her shoulders.

The former captain had been carrying much heavier men around. Flash stepping with Rukia on her back seemed an easy task, like breathing, compared to that.

"Shihoin-san?"

Yoruichi frowned. "It's Yoruichi. Really." They had been discussing that before... Or rather, she and the girl's brother had. "Why did everyone start calling me by my last name lately?" She knew why, though. It was because of Byakushi. The black haired captain had tried to built a fence between her and all those around him ever since she had started to visit Seireitei on a regular basis. He had disallowed them to talk to her, and if they did, they were instructed to use her last name. Of course, nobody had told her about it. But she _knew_.

It was just so very Kuchiki Byakuya.

Ignoring the question, Rukia continued. "Where are we heading for?" And, implied, hovering at the tip of her tongue but not spoken out of respect and exhaustion, the questions "Why have you saved me?" and "Why don't we just flee this damn building?".

The former 2nd division captain answered them anyway.

"Byakushi."

Rukia blinked. "Nii-sama is here?"

"He is." The man had prepared to go down to Hueco Mundo and save his sister the moment he had heard of her capture. And although she tried to ignore the feeling, Yoruichi couldn't deny the sharp hurt of jealousy of this well hidden yet very apparent caring attitude.

She didn't need his protection for sure. The other way round was much more likely. But sometimes she wished that the man would have spent equally as many thoughts on her as on Rukia...

"Can't you feel his flaring reiatsu?"

The girl's eyes widened. "He's fighting?"

"Of course he is. Stupid. Should have learned to avoid enemies by now." She snorted. "That rises the likeliness of fulfilling one's task and stay alive despite it considerably."

Neliel was pissed. Right away pissed.

Not that she cursed or showed it in any other way. Not that she even thought of her mood in this words. But, objectively said, she was.

It wasn't that there were intruders. Again. It wasn't that Peshe and Dondonchakka had got lost. Again. It wasn't that Barragan had tried to grab her ass. Again. It was that...

Nnoitra had picked a fight he couldn't win. Again.

And this time she would make him stop. Even if it meant that she had to knock him into unconsciousness.

Deep in thoughts, she nearly bumped into someone as she hurried towards the place where the Quinto was fighting.  
Struggling not to crash into a wall, she stopped her sonido and whirled around to face the other.

And blinked. She had expected an arrancar, she had even expected a shinigami. She hadn't expected someone who was neither.

The woman in front of her wore black tights and a orange sweater, nothing she could be identified with. A Quincy? Yet the girl round her shoulders Neliel could identify easily. It was that shinigami friend of Ichigo whom Ichimaru and Stark had captured some time ago. Her white form hang lifelessly, and for some moments Neliel thought the girl to be dead, until the shinigami shifted and tried to raise her head to look at the espada.

"What are you doing here?"

"That would have been my question... Don't you think?"

Silence. The women considered their next words... Neither of them was interested in picking a fight. They all had much more urgent tasks.

"I'm going to stop some idiot from getting killed."

"As am I." She nodded at Yoruichi and turned to continue on her way. But she was cut off by Rukia.

"You aren't going to stop us?"

"There are more important things I have to do."

Both women started off again. It took them some time to realize that they were heading for the same direction.

* * *

Stark looked down onto the broken corpse at his feet. He was uncertain about how to feel about the death of his fraccion.

Sure, Lilinette had been a pain in the ass from time to time, especially when she had woken him up or when she had been bored (which was about the same, most of the time). But she had also been very close to him, closer than anybody else... Not that he particularly cared.

But it was so quiet without her... This silence he had yearned for since they had been created by Aizen-sama, this silence was so empty now.

The girl was somewhat... lacking.

Speaking of that...

Lilinette wasn't the only one not here anymore. The shinigami was gone as well.

No way the injured woman had fled, even less killed his fraccion off. At least not without help. He would have to report that to Aizen-sama later on... But before, he had to take care of the matter.

There should be no problem to find the shinigami and her comrades.

* * *

The tall arrancar spat, staining the floor with more of his blood. His single eye opened to a nearly impossible width, he indulged in the moment, in this fight. This shinigami was strong, very strong, but in the beginning it hadn't been fun.

The man had appeared to be a distance fighter.

But then, as the fight had went on and he had nearly cornered the other, the man had released his bankai. Which was an one-on-one combat style one.

His grin widened as the other grabbed the hilt of his next sword.

"Yer really in trouble, huh, bitch?" Swinging his halfmoon discs back, he eyed his opponent. "Don't say you really underestimated me?"

There was no expression on the other's face, still. The longer their battle stretched, the more he got the impression of fighting Ulquiorra... Just that the other didn't use the word "trash" when telling him that he was worth nothing.

Didn't make much difference, though.

"Ridiculous." Byakuya dropped the sword and got his hands on the hilt of yet another one. "There is no reason to that."

"Gheeeee." He dove in, but his blow was blocked. "Of course there is. Fight is fun. And besides, you're not allowed to set foot in here."

* * *

No way to stop them. Totally impossible.

They sighed and gave each other an equally unnerved look.

"Men." Nothing else to say. They understood without words. As different as they were, being shinigami and arrancar, controlled and daredevil, caring and uncaring. They were men, and as such they were total dorks. In every single meaning of the word.

And they had to be stopped.

* * *

"You're not allowed to lay hand on my sister, either." Another thrust was blocked.

"And yer are a pain in the ass, prissy. " Eyes gleaming with lust, with a lust not so different from that he had felt with Neliel that certain time so many years before... But much more intense, much more burning - lust of a totally different kind. Lust that was caused by blood, by causing blood to flow. Lust, that compounded of the will to be stronger, the will to show strength by killing.

Ultimate power.

A power he would never feel with Neliel... Just because he knew he would never, never be the stronger one. He would never, never outlevel her. Darn woman.

He would never admit it... Would never admit how utterly good it had felt being ridden by her... Surely not. It eats away his pride. To have been happy _at the bottom_.

He isn't someone who is happy at the bottom. He's the kind of person happy at the top. _He is._

That's his way and he wants to hear her moan and pant and press her body against his. From _under_ him. From where a woman belongs to. But he knows equally well that he can't help it if she won't let him. If she wants to be where she isn't supposed to.

And he knows that he will allow nobody else to be there. Nobody. Especially not that arrogant little shinigami over there.

* * *

Really no way. They had tried to shout at the two at the battlefield, but it hadn't worked. They just didn't _hear_.

There was only one thing left to do. And neither of them would hesitate. They just had to... Trust each other that the other did the same. And, things being as they were, they could.

* * *

"Just stop you pointless attacks and let me finish you off. You're only extending the time until your death." He tried hard not to pant too obviously, tried to keep his outer appearance up. He wasn't allowed to show weakness.

"But that's what life is about!" The taller laughed hysterically. "Just-"

A sharp pain hit his neck, and everything went black.

* * *

They had given each other a long, very long gaze. Then Yoruichi had shouldered the two Kuchikis and stepped through the garganta Neliel had opened for her.

They knew, if they would meet again, it would be as enemies. But just now, they had shared a moment of mutual understanding. Sometimes it helped if one only knew that there was someone else sharing ones problems.

It took Neliel some moments until she realized that she hadn't even asked the womans name or race. But, she reminded herself, it didn't matter. What mattered was that Nnoitra lived... That he hadn't managed to get himself killed.

She knelt besides his unconscious form and stroked his hair gently. Sometimes she really wondered why this idiotic, short-tempered, aggressive Quinto meant so much to her. Sometimes she thought she couldn't handle those feelings anymore.

But then again...

Love was said to be without reason, wasn't it?

* * *

Stark turned away and walked down the corridor. The shinigamis were gone, and he held no interest for neither of the two espada remaining in the devastated battleground.

He wanted to return to his place but knew he would find it empty. Nobody to greet him and hinder him from sleeping and generally pick on his nerves.

No reason to go back there.

He had to report to Aizen-sama anyway. Maybe he could get a new room, too.


End file.
